After Rattle and Hum, U2 went away to 'dream it all up again.' Achtung Baby was widely regarded as a sonic and visual reinvention of the band: a step too far in some territories, where Adam's nude image on the sleeve was covered with an appropriately fixed X or clover. At U2's request, Achtung Baby was the first album by a major act to be released in two eco-friendly packages - the jewel box (without the long box attachment) and the cardboard Digi-Trak. The Digi-Trak featured long-box sizes cardboard, which, once its shrink-wrap and two plastic struts are removed, folds around the CD. In Germany, Universal released a 2-CD box set with a copy of both Achtung Baby and Zooropa.

The album peaked at No.2 on the US album chart and at No.1 on the UK album chart. It was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA with 8 million units sold. In Switzerland, Achtung Baby reached No.3 on the album charts and stayed in the charts for a total of 19 weeks and was certified Gold. In Australia, Achtung Baby was certified 5 times platinum by the ARIA.

U2 won the Grammy for Best Rock Album by a Duo or Group and producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno won Producers of the Year for Achtung Baby. Additionally, the album was nominated for Album of the Year. In the Rolling Stone annual reader's poll, it came No. 1 for Best Album and Best Album Cover.

Produced by Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno mainly at Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, Dog Town, S.T.S., and Windmill Lane, Dublin.
Engineered and Mixed by Flood with Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Even Better Than The Real Thing mixed by Steve Lillywhite

Release Date: 19 November, 1991

Produced By: Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Engineer: Engineered and Mixed by Flood with Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Even Better Than The Real Thing mixed by Steve Lillywhite

Soundbites

'All I know is that it feels like what I want right now, it's raw and rough and straightforward and down to the essence of things, quite unpolished in some ways and I like that.' Edge in Propaganda 15

'I certainly think this record, 'Achtung Baby', is a new start and things move in shifts. I mean, there's another record that belongs with this, just as 'Rattle and Hum' belonged with 'The Joshua Tree'. I know that record, I can hear it in my head already.' Bono, November 1991

'If you manage to get the four of them in one room with instruments in their hands you're going to get results. That has a lot to do with my job - just getting them in the room and playing.' Daniel Lanois on making Achtung Baby

Achtung baby album, the album that marks the re entry of U2 after a pause of years. And it really is another level. ' Rattle and hum ' is back and the dream goes on, and it sounds high,' Even better than the real thing', the musical journey still is and it gains in enrichment as regards possibilities . The album starts with ' Zoo station' and the first lines of the lyrics are more than explicative, they are steps :' I'm ready Ready for the laughing gas I'm ready Ready for what's next Ready to duck Ready to dive Ready to say I'm glad to be alive' The World with the W in capital letter is coming nearer ,part and counterpart ' Until the end of the world'. Everybody having a good time except you. You were talking about the end of the world.' Life can be advertised, piece by piece,as we can admire in the pictoresque cover , but through ' Mysterious ways ', rithme and story it is 'One 'in its entity. It is to say that inner world calls for clarity, new light ' Ultraviolet'. There is a boquet of songs ,' The fly' , ' Who' gonna ride your wild horses', ' So cruel' , ' Trying to throw your arms around the world', ' Acrobat' and ' Love is blindness' that vividly communicates this phase. The sound of the album is precisely measured in the rithme and we can perceive the hard malleability of the metal in the industries. In the new release songs not previously included are now ready to be appreciated in its beauty and arrangements :' Where did all go wrong' , atmosphere of the sixties, ' Blow your house down' ,atmosphere more seventies , ' Lady with the spinning head' , more eighties. Acthung baby is a suffered album, to me, a new level has been reached , the world has been growing and we can do nothing but being part of it. ' From the sky down' is a loyal view of all this.

web_elevation

14 October, 2011

MORE ACHTUNG...

My first CD Audio Record. It was my Christmas' present.
I thought it was broken, and my cd player was broken too, and my speakers also, because of the first recorded seconds, due the distorsion and the stereo effect of ZOO STATION!!!!!!! jajajaja!
(I can't wait to hear this song performed by nine inch nails, now in 2011)
The Fly was the first single I saw on TV and I understood why this new kind of music for U2, this new style, way of life, and I liked it very, very, very much.
I brought BONO's FLY Sunglasses and they broked last year during 360 TOUR at Sevilla, Spain. I still have them, broken! jajaja!
ULTRAVIOLET was the song of my first grildfriend and me, my first romance!
Pretty times!
I listened the whole songs of the CD at a pub drinking some beers.
It was the first LASER DISC karaoke I saw also.
Vinilo spanish version has original lyrics and spanish lyrics!!!!
ZOOROPA was the first tour I could see on a stadium, here at Madrid, Spain (where I born and live). It was the first concert of my life, with The RAMONES also :)
ACHTUNG BABY OUTTAKES impressed at my soul.
This WAS and IS a GREAT RECORD!
U2 forever!
//SalU2

tina82

28 October, 2010

THE BEST

to me Achtung Baby is the best rock record ever made. Tension, sensuality, power, melody, each single piece is stunningt and fits in the right place. Bono's voice, Edge's passional guitar and the perfect rythm section by Larry&Adam is at the top. Never an album reached this standards of quality and beauty, and I guess no one other ever will. it's simply the milestone of modern rock history.